


Embers

by LittleFireFly00



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Clem has both legs, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mitch is alive, because I actually forgot she lost a freaking leg, post broken toys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-06 05:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18381806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleFireFly00/pseuds/LittleFireFly00
Summary: They flew all around the courtyard, ash dissolving into the air and hiding behind the moonlight. Memories. The ashes were all memories now- and it's gone. All of it.Aasim had difficulties with breathing when staring down at the small campfire made out of his book which was once filled with memories- the notebook he carried around since he was little and wrote all of his and other's memories into it up until the day of today. It was all gone.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There aren't enough fanfictions about this under-appreciated and somewhat senseless ship. So I decided to write one myself until I find something more to feed my inner fangirl heart with.
> 
> ((This underrated ship needs more attention- Aasim was supposed to love both Ruby AND Louis but apparently, the concept got scrapped.))
> 
> So yes. I thought one of the things that would hurt Aasim (except for losing another classmate) is losing the book he has filled up with memories that kept everyone who died still alive, somewhere along the pages. So yes: I'm gonna hurt him with it. But Louis is there to the rescue, I guess? Yes, have fun :')

Embers.

They flew all around the courtyard, ash dissolving into the air and hiding behind the moonlight. Memories. The ashes were all memories now- and it's gone. All of it.

Aasim had difficulties with breathing when staring down at the small campfire made out of his book which was once filled with memories- the notebook he carried around since he was little and wrote all of his and other's memories into it up until the day of today. It was all gone.

“Aasim!” a sound came from far behind him, but Aasim ignored it. With a heavy heart, the boy knelt down the lit fire, stick in the hand and poking the black covered book away from the mess but it did no good. Aasim groaned, gulping away the tears when shaking his coat from his shoulders. Another yell from behind him, but he still ignored it when raising his coat in the hand, feeling the cold brush of air hugging his skin and making him shiver when attempting to throw his coat over the rising flames, ignoring the few small burns around his hands and face..

But a firm hand gripped his wrist- both of it even and gently dragged the younger boy away from the fire.

“No, let go of me! The- the book is..”

“Sim, do you wanna become a torch?!”

The voice sounded sad. Teasingly and defensive, but sad. Aasim swallowed the shameful tears away, struggling without letting out a sound and watching as the book burned away.

“Just- just stay here,” Louis’ voice sounded again, almost pleadingly. Aasim slumped down when Louis let go of him, leg brushed up against his chest and hands digging into the small stones on the ground when sad eyes followed the older boy walking around him, sending Aasim a gentle glance before walking over to the small flame and gently kicked the book out of it. He shrugged his own trench coat from his shoulders, gasping at the sudden cold hugging the boy when throwing the coat over the burned book and raised it to his chest, hugging it. Aasim gasped again, arm raising over his chest to cover his mouth and nose, pushing those stupid tears back into his throat.

“I…”

Louis stood there in the small distance, glancing between the burned book falling apart in his cradled arms and the sad posture of Aasim on the ground. The boy finally sighed, biting on his lip when shuffling over to Aasim, crouching down beside him and opening up his cradled coat to reveal what was left of the book.

Black. The brownish coat had become black by the ash, and embers were still shining on the edges and flying into Aasim’s face.

Memories. Memories of years upon years. Pages filled with both hope and happiness, sadness and pain- all the memories of people who they lost. They are all gone and still disappearing. Aasim finally gasped out a single tear, hand reaching out to grab the still burning book and Louis flinched.

“No no no, no NO,” Aasim chanted, ignoring the burn and heat licking his hands and fingers when cradling the book on his chest, trying to open it up but the heat was too strong.. and the pages were all nothing more than ash.

“Sim, drop that!”

Louis grabbed the book from the other teen's hand, yelping when his hand came in contact with the burning book and threw it onto the ground, glaring at Aasim afterward.

“Are you crazy?! Or do you want to have some not so fancy looking burn marks?”

“fucking let me have it!” Aasim yelled, tears dwelling over his face now. Aasim, half sobbing reached over Louis and stretched out for the remains of his memories- only for Louis to push him back again and gripping both of his hands into his and catching the sad boy’s eyes.

“You are burning up, dude! It's- it's gone, please let it be.”

Louis was pleading, holding onto Aasim’s hands when the boy relaxed ever so slowly.. but the sobbing and shaking was more obvious now. He looked down, wringing his hands away from Louis’ own to throw it around himself, hugging his own small form.

“I-Its not fucking it, THEY are gone! Every single thing I ever wrote about them, about us, it's gone!”

Louis broke. His heart broke. He has never seen Aasim like this. Well, only when people at the school died. The ones he cared about. But he would never seem like it- he would always open up his book to write all his memories about this person down. Aasim didn't want anything to go unnoticed- didn't want anyone to forget. The teen found his piece of optimism and light into that book. But everyone did. Everyone at the school kept joking about it but we all genuinely cared about Aasim and his book. It made us feel.. worthy. Wanted, even. Our lives were all written into that thing and it was a comforting thought that we wouldn't forget ourselves or each other if something was meant to happen.

But all of it was gone now, and Louis could feel Aasim's pain. The boy bit down on his lip when the emptiness inside his hands didn't go unnoticed, and he made another attempt to console his friend. Raising his single hand again, he placed it gently on Aasim's shoulder before rubbing it with his thumb, trying to get the boy to relax.

Louis always teased Aasim. And for an outsider's eye, it would look like Louis was only teasing him to get him to be grumpy and yell at Louis. But no- he only tried to make the other- grumpy boy laugh. Because he cared a lot about Aasim. Even when it seemed impossible, Louis knew his friend would crack a smile when his back is turned towards Louis- or when he says “fuck off, Lou” with a small quivering in his voice indicating an upcoming giggle when not looking at him. And every time that happened, Louis would feel the butterflies rushing around in his stomach. It would tingle like a cold soda burning through your throat at a hot summer day and leaving you satisfied and relieved. His heart would twist and turn, twirl around like wrenching a soaked sponge after washing the dishes. He never ever would have guessed to feel those kind and heartwarming emotions for another boy, least of all Aasim. And the idiot smiled stupidly every time those sweet feelings popped up. Every time when Aasim half-giggled. Every time the boy even looked annoyingly at Louis. Every time when Louis threw a teasing but loving arm around Aasim when hunting and making their sides brush against each other when walking.. every time when Louis only thought about nuzzling his nose into the boy’s neck or tickle him only to hear his rare laugh, and maybe even one day being able to peck the boy on the cheek, trail down to his lips, hold his chin and tell him how much he cares about his laugh.

But now, Louis is sad. Sad about never acting further than teasing Aasim and now the boy's broken, not knowing there is someone who cared about his health and happiness a great deal as Louis. He wanted to hear that stupid hint-of-a-giggle from Aasim again. Not- not those sobs, for God's sake!

“Sim.. please, don't.. uh..” Louis was bad at this. He wanted to raise his other hand, hug the small form but his arm wouldn't move up. “Please, let me take a look of that burns at least. I could be a good doc- I- I swea-”

But Louis didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence. Aasim scrambled up, hiding his face when striding away with big, fast steps and hand covering his face. Striding past everyone who looked with surprise at the scene unfolding. And he strode back inside.. towards his dorm.

Louis stood back up himself, feeling sick inside his stomach when staring at the point where Aasim disappeared at before groaning out in despair, crouching down to snatch his coat back from the ground before throwing it back over his shoulders, not bothering to clean the ash from it.

“Louis? What happened?”

Of course. It's not like this scene didn't go unnoticed. Looking back up, Louis noticed Clem standing in front of him, worried eyes glancing between the burned book on the ground and Louis, standing there startled with his jaw clenched together. Uh.. “I never expected to see Aasim so… sad.”

“I never expected to see Aasim with emotions,” Louis tried to joke, but it left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. He didn't like it. Clem raised her eyebrows, seemingly being serious about this and Louis sighed, shaking his head slightly and making the one braid in front of his face bounce around in front of his eye.

“Louis..”

“Yeah.. alright.. I saw AJ and Willy trying out this bomb they had made but I guess it went wrong and the benches where they sat kinda flew into flames. Aasim’s book was lying there and.. you know what happened next.”

That felt bitter. Clementine’s eyes widened, looking up at Louis with a shake of her head.

“Willy and AJ were playing around with.. a bomb?”

“I- well,”

“Ugh- shit. I- I need to talk to him.”

“I don't think AJ obliged to help Willy with the bomb- he didn't have anything to do with- Clem?”

But Clementine already turned her back and walked away from Louis, eyes searching for AJ and Willy. But Louis knew- he saw AJ running away in shame when Aasim had stormed out, yelling for his notebook. Fuck. This wasn't supposed to become this big of a mess.

He knows it won't do much because it was more about the memories within the book rather than the book with dead layers of tree inside- but Louis was tempted and motivated to find a new notebook for his.. friend. Maybe write some things into it himself? He would try anything to be able to hear the teen nearly-laugh again.


	2. Chapter 2

Three days had passed already. People talked, people laughed, people ate. People went out hunting, too. But Aasim was not between those people.

Everyone was worried about the guy. Something felt off about the air now Aasim wasn't sitting and writing at his desk every few hours now and then. The desk was empty, and so was the insides of Aasim himself. It was the same as birds losing their ability to fly, fish losing their ability to swim and Tenn losing his ability to draw. Aasim felt that. Everyone felt that.

So Louis was searching. In every drawer, closet, room, and corridor. But there were no empty notebooks. Not a big one, at least. Aasim's old one was big. Hundreds upon hundreds of pages filled with doodles and text. It looked like a damned Harry Potter novel by now but.. ya know.. by now.

“Can you bring this to Aasim?” Ruby had asked one day, filling a plate of bunny stew and handing it over at Mitch. Mitch, who took one big and last gulp of his food, nodded before stumbling up from the chair, rising into the morning air with a loud clatter and taking the plate from Ruby, nearly stumbling down when stepping away from the table- still chewing and stew slipping out of the corners of his mouth.

“A-ight, m'm”

“You sure I can’t bring it?” Louis asked, eyebrows high up when staring at the mumbling Mitch walking away from the table whilst balancing the stew in one hand. “I swear I'll be a better and faster delivery boy than that guy.”

Ruby chuckled gently at Louis’ worried voice, nodding her head before sitting back at the table next to AJ.

“He's the roommate. Mitch is the one he's been seeing most lately.”

“And you,” violet commented from the side, shrugging when taking a bite from her stew. “I'm starting to forget Aasim's voice. Not that he talked that much to me but still.”

“Is he still sad about the thing we did?” AJ had asked, placing his spoon on the table and hiding his arms under the bench, looking over at Louis with a troubled look and Louis simple clenched his jaw together- looking troubled himself. The faster he was done with his stew the faster he could search a new notebook for Aasim. So Louis raised his hand, took his spoon back and ducked into the stew..

“It meant a lot to Aasim- his notebook, I mean. He wrote all kinds of memories in there about all of us. He's.. sad, but he'll be okay.”

Clementine sounded cautious, but AJ didn't seem satisfied- even more so when Willy sighed, looking down at his own stew with a disappointed expression before mumbling with a sigh; “Maaaan, I feel shitty..”

AJ pursed his lips together, looking away and staring down at his stew.. quietly while everyone else ducks in and got their tummy’s filled. And just when Omar filled the second plate with stew for Willy, the kids all heard the door of the school closing. And turning sideways, Louis’ heart made a small jump, reaching into his throat and the teen gulped upon noticing Aasim, shuffling onto the courtyard with a plate of stew in his hands.. Mitch waltzing behind him and picking his teeth when patting Aasim on the shoulder before walking towards the couches. Oh.

“Aasim,” Ruby called out with a hint of surprise in her voice. He looked very absent-minded, but looked up and caught our gaze almost instantly. Closing in on us, the boy's gaze was mostly fixed on Louis before glancing away, staring at his stew instead. Louis noticed the little pencil he used to write with was tucked against his chest pocket, safe and sound.

“Decided to eat with us?”

“You probably missed the sweet smell of nature and rotting zombies, eh, Sim?” Louis tried when his friend decided to sit on the edge of the newly put bench, shuffling at the immediate edge. Not even an insult? Not even a fuck off?

“You alright?” Clementine finally asked, eyes searching for Aasim's but the teen refused to look up when grunting just quietly- loud enough for Louis to hear before grabbing the spoon and digging it into the stew.

“I’m okay..” he said, shaking his head before whispering quietly at himself: “I'm just being stupid.” and again, only Louis was able to catch onto that.

“How's the hand?"

Louis glanced at Ruby for a mere second, before focusing back on Aasim and gazing his bandaged hand with a frown. Those burn marks..

Aasim stayed quiet for a moment- lips sealed when circling the spoon through the stew before looking back up and glancing at Ruby, who was patiently but somewhat worriedly waiting for an answer. And Aasim gave one, shrugging and clenching his jaw together.

"I can still write~ not that I'll be writing anytime soon now..."

...ow. Willy let out a very obvious sigh- groaning when AJ jumped up from his place- troubled eyes searching around when crouching down and making a big, blue notebook from under the bench appear before circling around it to reach Aasim. The teen followed the younger boy with his eyes- surprised and troubled like everyone else on the table.

"AJ, what's that?" Clem had asked, but AJ simply stretched the book over at Aasim, biting his underlip when glancing at Clem.

"...Tenn's drawing book? He- he used to draw in it and gave it to me. Now I'm giving it to Aasim so he can write again," he said, a small smile circling around his lips. Ruby let out a small 'aw' from the side of the bench, smiling down at the smaller boy.

"That's.. very sweet of you AJ but-"

"I can't have this," Aasim stated softly, voice hollow and shaking his head when AJ's smile disappeared and shoulders slumped down, lowering the book again.

"Why not?"

"Tenn would have liked it for you to draw into it.. it's not meant to be written in."

AJ glanced around the table, mood dropping down when mumbling out an 'oh', but before he could shuffle away somewhat awkwardly, Louis scraped his throat to get the boy's attention and smiled at him.

"Besides, Aasim is not as good of an artist as you and Tenn were. And the book Aasim had.. it had.. lines? Poor Aasim can't write straight so he needs those lines to help him."

"Lines?"

"Yeah! Like- uh..."

But before Louis could continue, Aasim excused himself quietly after some nervous shuffling on the bench, standing back up and walking away, striding towards the school. Louis followed the teen disappearing behind the doors- caught him swiping a hand along his brows and face before the doors shut close behind him. AJ tensed up, eyes wide and searching over the table when Violet let out a sigh, shaking her head and Willy let out another groan close to despair.

"Did I do bad?"

"Just give 'm time, the guy's meant to get over it sooner or later," Violet said, shaking her head, and AJ pursed his lips together. "You were... nice. He doesn't get it yet."

"I don't know why he's so broken about the book," Willy finally whispered with a sigh, guilt written over the boy's face when he looked up with a shrug. "It was just some kind of diary, right?"

"That's the entire point Willy," Ruby answered, standing up and collecting the empty plates of former stew. "He wrote memories into that book. Daily stories and updates about everything and everyone to remember them."

"The guy had the book with him since before the apocalypse, even..." Louis mumbled, biting down on his lip. The conversation died out after that- people stood up with a frown and pursed lips, all walking to other directions. Ruby helped Omar with the plates and Clementine went to the watchtower with Violet. Willy was still seated though, and AJ was staring at Louis. The man felt somewhat uncomfortable when standing up, feeling the little dude's eyes on him when he moved away, hands slipping inside his pockets when glancing back over towards the door where Aasim disappeared behind and his heart filled itself with weight, feeling heavy inside his chest when even thinking about Aasim's mood now.

Yes; he is going to find a new book for Aasim. He searched at the wrong places- there must be a book somewhere around the other sides of the school, right? Where all the classrooms are located? Louis let out a sigh, tipping his head up and let a smile circle around his lips. Yes; why didn't he search there? A new book with 'lines', maybe even some text in it and a drawing from AJ; that would cheer Aasim up! Hopefully.

Fully motivated now, Louis took off towards the school, ready to begin his search with a new motivation. But, of course, he stopped right in his tracks when a small hand tucked along his sleeve, trying to catch Louis' attention.

"I wanna come, too."

With a frown, Louis turned around and noticed AJ standing behind him, big eyes looking up hopefully and lips tucked up in a smile.

"Uh- where do you think I'm going, little dude?"

"To search a book for Aasim! I want to help you find one," he claimed with a smile, jumping around Louis to stand near the school with a nod to Louis. "It's my fault that he's so sad. A new book could cheer him up. I can even draw on the- eh- front..side-"

"-cover?"

"-I can even draw on the cover for him! Please let me come! I need to atone for what I did!"

Louis chuckled, shaking his head with a sigh. "Aj- that is not..." but he kept his mouth shut, glancing at the door of the school before sighing, rolling his eyes at the younger boy. "Well.. alright. We could make a pretty badass team- exploring the school, you and I."

AJ jumped up, a laugh escaping his mouth when nodding and turning around on his place.

"Yes- oh yes! His new book will be so perfect and he'll be so happy after this!" And with that, AJ already ran back towards the school, pushed the door open and held it like then whilst staring at Louis with a wide smile. Louis didn't know if he made the right choice with bringing the kid along with him but come on- that was pretty damn adorable. Louis smiled, shaking his head when approaching AJ again- both of them taking off to explore the school..


	3. Chapter 3

Aasim was fed up. He felt like he had lost a part of himself- a part of his memories, something that made Aasim the person he was today. It made him immensely sad to think about how he wouldn't be able to look back on the things that had happened- not being able to be remembered or remember other people.. remember friends.

He lied. His journal was not about to become a history book. Well- maybe it could be if someone else, years later from now, picked it up and read through it but it was partly a diary, too- and Aasim hated that world wholesomely. Why? He did put personal thoughts into some pages. A lot of them, actually. And a history book is about facts. About the grass being green, the air being gray and Louis's freckles being too much. But personal thoughts.. Aasim would write how much he liked the smell of grass, how he felt the air was moody and how much he liked Louis' freckles.

Wait, scrap the last part. Of course, he wouldn't have written it that obvious. But he can't help it but think about how cute Louis' freckles were.

And might have stabbed one page of the book with thousands of dots out of frustration at the day when realizing how Aasim could have a crush on the idiot and imagining the frustrated dots and pokes in the page were his freckles.

And that was gone, too. And it didn't help to talk about it at the benches when eating rabbit stew. He desperately wanted to write it down- how frustrated he was and how nice the other kids were with him but he couldn't. Aasim felt lost. Inspirationless and motivationless. Memories were all gone and nobody would ever remember them after they are dead- they would be forgotten and would disappear into the night sky like the embers from a few days ago. Quietly, without disturbing anyone.

Hot tears burned behind Aasims eyes when he groaned, throwing his legs from the bed and digging his hands into the mattress of the bed, tipping his head down and shutting his eyes shut.

Aasim hunts rabbits. He feeds the kids here. But it didn't end there. People appreciated the food. But Aasim wrote, too. Aasim wrote about everyone and everything- remembered them and their best days. He read those good days back when he felt down and forgot about the good times he had to motivate himself- to tell himself that everything will be alright. The book, along with the kids- they kept Aasim grounded. But those good days and memories were gone now. And nobody took him seriously?!

Aasim groaned out in frustration- not hearing the faint knocking on the door. Though- he heard the second, somewhat louder one and Aasim reclaimed his posture fast- sweeping away the frown between his brows and raising the back of his hand to rub his wet eyes with it.

"Come in," Aasim called then. And of course- of all people, Louis was the one to open the door. One hand held the doorknob while the other was lingering behind his back when shuffling inside the room, pushing the door closed with a nervous smile playing on his lips. Aasim felt himself becoming smaller- shoulders tensing up and heart starting to beat faster ever so slowly. What was this idiot doing here now?

"Hey- Sim," Louis greeted, voice quivering just slightly but smiling nonetheless when closing in on the guy. The teen stayed still, eyes following Louis when giving him a small nod.

"..hey."

"So courteous," Louis said with a teasing smile, eyes smiling nervously when sitting on the bed next to Aasim who felt the warmth filling his stomach almost instantly, furrowing when Louis still held his other arm behind his back.

"What's happening?"

"I... I had this idea in my head and the other kids- AJ mostly, helped me with achieving it and, well- we.. uh..."

Louis pursed his lips together, rolling his eyes when sighing. Damn, he was bad at this.

"...I have something for you," Louis finally said, removing his hand from behind his back, revealing a small... package? A small package with a hard surface, wrapped around in old newspapers. Aasim coked his eyebrows up, glancing between the package and Louis and tipped his head to the side.

"That's..."

"A... present! For you," Louis said cockily, smiled nervously when reaching it out towards Aasim who took it into his hands. Aasim felt like passing out- or close to, at least. His stomach was tingling and his arms were limp- tired when holding the package in front of him. One last time he glanced towards Louis whose face was somewhat red, blush around his cheeks and making his freckles pop out. And he opened it- gently pulling the newspapers away from it and throwing at the side..

Only to reveal the book within. Aasim's heart made a summersault- tears dwelling back behind his eyes when he felt like becoming sick but no- it was only the butterflies in his body going crazy. The book was the same format as his old one- but with a gentle, yellow cover this time around. A small drawing was on the front- and if Aasim squeezed his eyes a bit he could make out the other kids pictured on it with Aasim in the middle- everyone had a bright smile and the text on top, with childish handwritten which said; "Special book".

"Oh... wow," Aasim mumbled, not knowing what to say. Trying to stay nonchalant when opening the first page- but he felt like he was failing when letting out a sigh upon seeing the first page. Everyone's names with their handwritten were on the first page- all with doodles- and Louis' handwritten on the bottom with; "Time to make history."

"Very cheesy and girlish- I know, but I thought maybe if you don't want to use it you'll at least laugh or call me an idiot or come to life and throw it at our heads or-"

"You fucking idiot," Aasim finally mumbled- shutting the book close and resting it on his lap- wanting to hug it ever so desperately when euphoria filled his body. He wanted to cry- to laugh, to start writing again and kiss Louis. But he stayed nonchalant- grinning just slightly and mumbling 'this stupid book...' in awe. But he didn't think it was stupid- not even a bit.

"So... you like it?" Louis asked, cautiously. Aasim looked up from the book and caught Louis' nervous eyes- yet smiling and hopeful. And Aasim nodded, pursing his lips into a small smile.

And trying to stay nonchalant was over by then. Aasim placed the book beside him on the bed, shuffled closer to Louis and threw his arms around the boy, hugging him. Louis was startled of course- and no words were exchanged when Aasim tried his best to stay sane and Louis let out a happy gasp, resting his own arms and hands around the smaller boy- giving in and slipping his eyes closed for a mere second.

"Thank you Lou," Aasim finally whispered, and Louis smiled. The other boy could feel it.

"Anytime. It.. would've been a disaster if we couldn't tease you with your diary again."

And there Aasim pulled back, pushing a hand against his own forehead and sighed. Louis chuckled.

"Of course you would say that," Aasim then mumbled, shaking his head in slight disappointment and smiled when Louis nudged him, reaching over the boy's lap and snatched the book from the side before shuffling closer and opened it up between them, a grin playing on his lips and ignoring the sweet closeness with the teen.

"So... where should we begin with, oh sweet writer mine?"

Aasim shook his head, ignoring his fluttering heart when looking down at the blank pages of the book. So many to catch up; he needs to write everything that has happened within a few pages before forgetting them- or anyone else. Chronicle things from past memory.. can't be that hard, right?

“I could write down the things that happened up until now,” Aasim thought out loud, considering with a hum when his eyes were fixated on the blank pages. “From memory and all that.. or I could write in short the things that happened without too many details before moving on from this week?”

Louis was watching him, a gentle smile crawling up his lips when the boy shuffled even closer- winning over a subtle and small flinch from Aasim when their knees touched and leaned over to take the small pencil from Aasim's chest pocket. The other boy frowned, tipping his head to the side when staring at Louis- frozen in place.

“What are you-”

“We could always start like this,” Louis said with a grin when resting the pencil against the paper. Scribbling down the few words, Louis felt his own knees buckle even when he's sitting and heart ramming against his chest when the boy clenched his jaw and formed a smile on his lips.

He finally left the pencil between the pages, backing away with an hesitant but teasing smile and watched as Aasim read it with a deep frown between the brows. But he kept staring at it even after having read it- finally deciding to chuckle, shake his head and tipped his head up to catch Louis’ eyes- only to avoid it the second after that.

“ _Idiot_.”

“Idiot 's my second name,” Louis noted proudly, taking the edges of his coat by the hand and straightened it with a smile. They stood like that for a while- simply staring at each other up until the older boy decided to break the tension, scraping his throat and stood up from his place. Aasim's shoulders slumped so suddenly at the movement, eyes following Louis.

“I guess it's time to go back to my own room before Mitch comes back. Who knows what the guy would think if he caught me being sappy?”

“Terrible things of course,” Aasim answered with a roll of his eyes. Louis chuckled at that, shuffling towards the door. He was ready to calm down his heart and say goodnight, but Aasim lung from his bed and strode back towards Louis.

“W-wait,” Aasim mumbled. Catching the sleeve of his coat, Louis turned around with both a cocky smile and a questioning frown when Aasim stood back in front of the other boy. And before Louis knew it, the other teen had shuffled even closer- standing up on his toes and gave Louis’ cheek a small peck. Just a small one, didn't even last a second when backing away whilst nervously chewing on his lip. But it was enough for Louis to set his mind tolling and heart fluttering. Wha-

“..thank you.”

The teen tried to regain his confident posture: swiping away that startled expression and stared at Aasim with a hint of amusement. Oh..

“You.. are an idiot. Dumbass and cocky. But.. you were there for me.” Aasim's voice dwelled off, getting quiet when avoiding Louis’ gaze and stared at the wall behind his legs instead. “You are a good friend. Nobody knows how much this stupid journal means to me.”

“Oh I know,” Louise perked in with a smile, wringing out another smile from the other boy. Louis himself didn't even notice having shuffled this close towards the boy when he noticed how Aasim had still a hold on his sleeve. From this close he could count aasim's whimpers- theoretically of course ‘cause who would do that? And purely acting on impulse and nothing else, Louis raised his free hand- gently tucking Aasim's chin upward and closed the small distance between them. He could hear the small, startled gasp and the breeze of hot air puffing past his face. And he finally brushed his lips against the other boy’s- heart hammering against his chest but seemingly stopping after Aasim's flinch- but he recovered himself immediately.

Aasim was panicking- both out of surprise only and his mind got emptied at the same time. The only thing the boy could think about was _Louis_ . Never ever had he thought to stand here now- a new journal from Louis on his bed and him actually _kissing_ Louis now. He should've pushed the boy away, asking him what the hell he was doing but instead, Aasim leaned into the kiss, arms still limply hanging besides his torso when Louis moved his own from the other teen’s chin to the back of his neck, deepening the kiss.

But before Aasim could react to it, the teen pulled away, noses accidentally rubbing when doing so. Aasim looked _startled_ , keeping his mouth shut when Louis simply grinned, heart about to explode inside his chest.

“..I-”

And the boy hauled forward when the door slammed open against his back with a yelp, getting pushed against Aasim who stepped away from the door, revealing a confused looking Mitch behind it.

“Argh- why are you- oh, hey Louis,” Mitch said when opening the door, eyes wandering between both Louis’ and Aasim's flustered faces. Aasim was this time around the first one to let go off Louis, eyes wide and stepping away from both of them when rubbing his neck awkwardly.

“..Oh, Mitch- uh, something you need?”

“Well I wanted to _sleep_ but-”

“Well- I'll be going then,” Louis cut in with a smirk, knees buckling when walking past Mitch and turning around to glance at the two of them. “Mitch needs to catch up with his beauty sleep to stay handsome like that, right?”

Mitch rolled his eyes at that before turning his back at the teen, walking away into the room. And Aasim simply stared at Louis, still wide eyed but the other boy caught a glimpse of a smile along his lips.

“Yeah, sure- g'night Louis,” Mitch's voice sounded one last time when Louis turned around himself, walking away with the biggest smirk along his lips.

And that night, both Louis and Aasim couldn't stop thinking about the impulsive kiss. And, of course, Aasim wrote every detail of it into his nice little and new Journal the day after- which was obviously _not_ a _diary._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey, I didn't write down what Louis wrote in that journal. Blame Skybound who didn't show us the very secret note Louis shoved towards Clem by the end of the season, if you romanced Lou whilst saving Vi.
> 
> In all honesty; I stared at the screen for a solid 10 minute straight and all the things that came up in me were cheesy so use your sweet imagination there :') cheesy as in things like "You matter to me". The entire sequence was cheesy enough so I left it out.
> 
> I hope y'all liked my first twdg fanfic ever. I'm not a native English speaker so there might be strange and unusual grammatical errors- so bear with me!


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